Wesley So grabbed the first win at this year’s Superbet Chess Classic, the inaugural event of the Grand Chess Tour. The Filipino-born star beat defending champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to get the sole lead in Bucharest, as the four remaining round-1 games finished drawn. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Prior to the Candidates Tournament in 2013, two of the favourites to gain the right to challenge Vishy Anand in the next World Championship match were Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian together with Magnus Carlsen, of course. In order to prepare for the all-important event, amid a scarcity of strong tournaments, Kramnik and Aronian played a 6-game match in Zurich. It was an exciting confrontation, which ended in a draw, with each player getting a win apiece.
Half the games ended decisively on opening day at the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix in Belgrade. Dmitry Andreikin and Vidit Gujrathi are leading their pools after beating Alexander Grischuk and Alexei Shirov respectively. Meanwhile, both games finished decisively in pool C, with Anish Giri and Nikita Vitiugov scoring full points in the first round. Two draws were seen in pool D. | Photos: Mark Livshitz